KC, Ripped From Reality
by DippedDorito
Summary: WOW I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD PUBLISH THIS Let's return to the days of Team Crafted, ruling over a peaceful Budder City. Squid Army eggs the castle walls, prank wars abound, everything is as it should be. Now throw in a mysterious spawn, Herobrine, and divided loyalties. Now there's a story! Updates every other day probably, maybe more or less.
1. ATTACK!

**First I opened my eyes, then I felt such a strange breeze**

 **I had traveled to a world made of blocks totally unbeknownst to me**

 **When you play mine, mine, Minecraft**

In the land of Minecraftia, there were two ways in which a person entered the world. They were either born, the more common path, or spawned, Notch only knew how. Once or twice a week, a new player, or noob, would spawn in a random location in the world (if they were lucky, near a city). The noob could be only a child, or an adult, but most often it turned out to be a teenager. He or she spawned with a map and a survival guide. Anyone who saw a noob tried to help them in any way possible, but a spawn was not uncommon, they happened two or three times a week.

That's why it came as no surprise to anyone when a noob spawned on the outskirts of Butter City. Not that there was anyone to see it, of course. If someone had seen, they might have noted the peculiarity of this spawn. They might have noticed the swirling purple portal open and the noob fall out, unconscious, to the ground. They might have worried when she didn't wake up for 3 hours. But there was no one there. So , after a while, she woke up.

Now every Minecrafter has a different way of opening their inventory. Some simply snap their fingers, while others carry a bag with them at all times. This teen was weating a yellow hoodie with strange markings on it, as well as jeans and sneakers. She casually put her hands in the large pockets of the hoodie, and to her surprise, her inventory interface opened up in front of her. Somehow she had still received a survival guide and map. She glanced at the map, not really understanding what she was looking at. Then she read the book, and following the directions, took a look at her surroundings. She was standing at the edge of a small forest. To either side there were more trees, but in front oh her rose a massive city, surrounded by a golden wall. People in golden armor and clothes streamed in and out of a massive gate, some carrying food and weapons. Guards stood on top of the wall, bows and arrows in each of their hands. Inside the wall, there were houses and towers of all sorts, but most were made of gold.

The noob saw all this, but instead of going straight to the city, as most noobs do, she hung back for a moment, continuing to look around. A few blocks away there was a small pool, and as she went closer, she saw her reflection for the first time.

She had light blond hair which just reached her shoulders. A small bit fell over one eye. Her eyes themselves were hazel. As she raised a hand to her face, she noticed something peculiar on her right wrist. What seemed to be a charm bracelet dangled there, but there was only one charm on it. It was a golden scythe with tiny markings on it. The craftsmanship was amazing, but not standard in Minecraftia. She rubbed the charm, and it seemed to glow slightly.

She shrugged, but before she turned away from the pool, she noticed one more thing. When a noob spawned, they never knew what to call themselves, so Notch gave them a gift. For the first while after they spawned, their name would hover over their head, noticeable only to themselves. That way, if they were lucky, they would see it and realize it was their name. The girl had just seen this, and though it was already fading away, she could just make out the word "Kazo" in golden letters.

Meanwhile, in Butter City...

Inside a secret room, the leader of Butter City was trying in vain to control what was supposed to be an important meeting. If anyone had looked at the room though, they wouldn't have been able to tell that these were the most important people in the city. That's right; here was the famous Team Crafted. However, no one in the room was paying any attention to Sky, who was quickly getting frustrated.\

"OHMYNOTCHSHUTUPANDLISTENTHISISFLIPPINGIMPORTANTANDSTOPTEXTINGOVERTHEREBILLYICANSEEYOUFLIRTINGWITHMISSMAYOR!"

"Sky, we've been sitting here for five minutes..." Seto said slowly.

"Yeah... and who's Billy?" Deadlox asked.

"Uh... never mind. I now call this emergency Team Crafted meeting to order!" Sky sat down and pounded a butter ingot on the table like a judge's gavel.

"What is it this time?" Mitch asked sullenly. "I was playing Hunger Games, this better be important."

"Yeah, this isn't another false alarm, is it?" Ryan had good reason to be concerned. Just last week, Sky had made him search the entire city for some squid who had 'stolen his butter'.

"No no, this is urgent, and what do you mean, another? That squid was real!"

"Just get on with it Sky, please?" Jason knew how worked up Sky became when butter was involved.

"Right, so anyway, about 10 minutes ago I received a Skype message from a rogue band of squids. I told them to call back in 10 minutes, so they should-" a buzzing noise came from a screen behind him. "There they are." Sky hit a button on a laptop in front of him, and a group of squids popped up on the screen.

The leader tapped the mic in front of him with a tentacle. "Is this thing on?" A general murmur of assent came from the meeting room. "Oh good. Now, FOOLISH SKYDOESMINECRAFT, MY ARMY OF SQUIDS IS COMING TO ATTACK YOUR CITY AS WE SPEAK! YOU ARE POWERLESS TO-"

"STOP SHOUTING!" Sky screamed.

"NO, YOU STOP!"

"NO YOU!"

"NO YOU!"

"HEY!" Everyone turned in surprise to Deadlox. "Can we please just get on with the threat?"

The squid looked confusedly at him for a moment, then cleared its throat. "Yes, right. Anywho, we're on our way to destroy the city. Unless you wish to surrender now?"

"NO WAY!" Sky was shouting again. Quentin groaned and dropped his head on the table. This could go on for a while. Luckily, Seto took the liberty of ending the Skype call before the squids could retort.

"Seriously, I was called from deathmatch for that?" Mitch scoffed.

"I dunno, it looked pretty real to me..." Ssundee said slowly.

'Pretty real? OF COURSE IT WAS REAL!" Sky looked like he was about to hyperventilate. "THERE'S ONLY ONE THING TO DO!"

"Oh no-"

"THIS IS OFFICIALLY..." Sky was slowly edging tiward a large red button on the wall.

"Sky wait-"

"AN..."

"Don't say it-"

"EMERGENCY!" With that, Sky slammed his fist against the button, incurring the wrath of flashing red lights and wailing sirens all over the city.

Sky ran up the stairs to the rest of the castle, screaming, "ASSEMBLE THE RECRUITS! GATHER WEAPONS! SAVE THE BUTTER!"

There was silence in the meeting room, save the sirens, of course. The rest of the team looked at each other for a few moments, then got up and went upstairs to organize their own recruits. All in all, a normal afternoon in Minecraftia...


	2. The G-Word

**How was I supposed to know eggs break that easy?**

 **You should be mad at the eggs, for being so weak.**

As it turned out, the squids' threat was not an empty one. Within twenty minutes a sea of blue soldiers was spread over a nearby hill. Likewise, butter-clad warriors poured out of the cit gates, rallying behind their leaders.

Kazo watched all this from her little spot. She was closer to the squids than to Sky Army; and she was more than a little surprised. After all, it's not every day you see squids with murderous intent attack an army encased in gold.

Suddenly she heard the sound of footsteps behind her. She whirled but too late; what looked to be a human-squid hybrid smacked her in the forehead with his sword-hilt. She crumpled to the ground unconscious as the hybrid dragged her away.

Meanwhile, Sky was rushing around organizing recruits, making sure each one was equipped with at least a butter sword, if not full butter armor. (After all, it's a well-known fact that butter burns squids.) The rest of Team Crafted were standing around, mostly. They and their recruits were really only there for support. Only Seto was crucial, to hand out potions of healing afterward.

The two lines started to march toward each other, Sky at the head of Sky Army, and the squid general leading his ragtag group of soldiers.

"You better be here to surrender, squids!" Sky shouted.

"No, Skydoesminecraft, it will be you who surrenders to us!" The lead squid boomed, although many of his henchmen seemed nervous about the large amount of butter so close. He motioned for a hybrid to come forward. "For you see... we have one of your precious recruits!"

The hybrid came forward reluctantly, dragging Kazo behind him, then propping her up for all to see. Sky Army hissed and booed at this foul play.

Team Crafted ran forward immediately; now this was a crisis. "I don't think she's one of ours," Jason shouted as they came closer.

"But she's dressed in all butter!" Sky said, clearly enraged.

"Yeah, but she's not wearing any of the army crests," Mitch pointed out. "And look, there's a map poking out of her pocket. She must be a noob."

"And where's Storm?" Jerome added. "As leader of Squid Army, she should be here, but she's not. I think these squids are going against orders, possibly deserting."

Kazo chose this moment to wake up. "Wh... Where am I?"

The head squid cursed. "You were supposed to keep her unconscious, you idiot!'

Kazo looked around, confused. "Hey... Let go of me!" She stomped on one of the squids tentacles. He howled in pain and dropped her.

Sky saw his opening and shouted, "ATTACK!" The might of Sky Army charged forward with their valiant leader.

To the credit of the squids, about a fifth of them stood their ground and fought. The rest, including their leader, fled. Those that fought were quickly slaughtered, outnumbered as they were, and within the hour Sky Army was going home triumphant.

When the battle started, Kazo had quickly moved to the sidelines, seeing as she had no weapon. As she watched the fight, she tried to make sense of it all. The survival manual said that squids were passive mobs that lived in the water, bu there they were on land, attacking players. And there were so many players fighting back, all for one person? And why in gold armor? The manual said gold was the weakest metal, it didn't make any sense.

Team Crafted were the last ones to leave the battlefield. As they left, Ryan noticed the noob was still sitting next to the city walls. "Shouldn't we bring her into the city, or..."

"We shouldn't just leave her there, she's probably pretty confused," Jason mused. "Let's go talk to her."

As they came over, Kazo saw them and stood up. Maybe they could explain the logic behind that battle.

Sky spoke up first, before anyone could stop him. "Welcome, majestic butter warrior."

Kazo took a noticeable step back, and Jason hurried to explain, "Don't mind him, he's always like that. What he meant to say was, welcome to Minecraftia! I'm Jason, and this is Ty, Mitch, Jerome, Ryan, Ian, Seto, Quentin, and you've already met Sky. What's your name?"

"Kazo," the girl responded quietly. "And, uh, is he okay?'

Sky was now standing a short distance away and muttering to himself. "Yeah, he'll be okay..." Deadlox answered. "He just gets like that sometimes. Anyway, would you like a tour of Butter City?"

"Sure."

Sky overheard and dashed over. "I'll do it!"

"No offense Sky, but you aren't the best at easing people into Sky Army life... The last recruit you taught ran away screaming..."

"Oh. Right." Sky paused for a moment. "Ian, would you do it?"

"Sure! Come on Kazo, right this way." Ssundee led Kazo towards the main gate, as Team Crafted ran ahead. Walking nearer, Kazo realized the entire wall and most of the buildings inside were completely made of gold. "So as you can see, this is the main entrance to Butter City. Where we are now is the Sky Army sector. There are different sectors for each army, but the biggest belong to Sky Army, Dead Army, the Doods, and the Stars, belonging to Sky, Ty, Mitch and Jerome, and Jason, respectively. As you might have already noticed, almost all the buildings here are made of the fantastic ore known as butter."

"Wait, don't you mean gold?" Kazo interrupted. Any recruits within earshot gasped and glared at her, while one recruit actually fainted.

"Don't worry everyone, she's just a noob, she doesn't know any better yet," Ssundee called out. Several recruits grumbled, but they all returned to their regular business. "See, using the g-word here is almost enough to get you thrown into the dungeon! Since Sky Army is the largest army here, consisting of over twelve million soldiers, and Sky insists on calling the ingot butter, his recruits want nothing more than to enforce this rule upon the world, and sometimes they get a little out of hand."

"But why does he call it butter?"

"No one knows, except maybe Deadlox, but he'd never tell. I think it was a childhood thing, but other people believe it's that amulet of his. That's why the squids attack us, after all. They want the magic the amulet contains, whatever that means."

"But my survival guide says squids are passive mobs, they aren't supposed to do any harm. So why do they have their own army?" Kazo was getting more and more confused. The more answers she got, the more questions were created.

Ian laughed. "Maybe it was that way at some point, but not anymore. Honestly, if they got any smarter, they'd be more of a threat than the night mobs." Ssundee glanced up at the sky. The sun was beginning to set. "Speaking of which, let's get you a room, at least for the night. You can decide if you want to join this madhouse tomorrow, but there's no way you could get up a shelter now. Here, take this." He handed here a stack of 64 butter ingots, compacted in a small cube. "It's the only currency recognized in this district, and more than enough to get you a hotel room and dinner." He grinned. "Hope to see you at the recruiting office tomorrow, that's where I work. There's a hotel just three doors down, head straight there."

"Alright, thanks!" Kazo said, heading off. Then she turned around and shouted, "And tell the guys thanks for not sending Sky, good call!" She heard Ssundee laugh, then sprinted for the hotel.

After she had bought a room and meal, she lay on her bed reading the survival manual. It had all sorts of tips for fighting mobs and surviving the night, but nothing about the cities, or demonic squids, or insane commanders who called gold butter. Still... it's not like that was necessarily a bad thing... And it might be nice to stay in a safe place for a while. If nothing else, it seemed like fun! She shook her remaining 60 ingots and wondered, how many butters would it take to buy a house?


	3. Don't threaten me with a good time

**As a child you would wait and watch from far away**

 **But you always knew that you'd be the one to work while they all play**

 **In youth you'd lay awake at night and scheme**

 **Of all the things that you would change**

 **But it was just a dream**

A week later, Kazo had bought a small apartment in Sky Army's downtown district. She had managed to get herself some basic tools as well, all made of butter except for the pick, which was steel. As she asked around, she discovered the two major jobs in the city were night watch or mining. Seeing as she didn't belong to an army yet, she wasn't allowed to join the guard, so she started mining instead.

Kazo realized quickly that she was particularly skilled with finding rare ores. It was almost like she could sense where they were. For a week, she spent most of her spare time in the mine system beneath the cit, collecting ores and handing them over to the supervisor in exchange for butter ingots. At the end of the week, Kazo noticed the recruits leaving the mine earlier than usual. "Where are you going?" She asked one soldier as he passed.

"Don't you know? Team Crafted's about to give their update speech for the week, and I don't want to miss it!" The recruit ran off, and Kazo followed, intrigued.

The recruits were massing in an enormous park in the very center of the city, connecting to every district. Soldiers from every army were there, waiting to hear the latest news from their commanders. In the middle of the park stood a large podium that seemed to be surrounded by a forcefield, to keep out some of the more fanatical recruits, Kazo guessed. On the largest buildings around the park were giant television screens broadcasting from the podium, so everyone could see and hear the leaders.

On the platform, Sub checked to make sure everything was in place, then gave the thumbs up to Sky. Sky nodded and grabbed a mic from a nearby stand. "Hello Butter City!" A huge cheer rose up from the crowd, especially those clad in butter armor. "Tonight we're gonna celebrate 'specially hard, cuz Sky Army just hit 12 million recruits!" Another loud cheer, and even Kazo joined in this time; after all, that was a huge milestone. Sub hit a switch that set off a butter firework display, making the armies shout even louder. "Thanks to all of you, because without you guys, there's be no Sky Army, and I'd just be a crazy guy living alone." Sky laughed and passed the mic to Mitch.

"So speaking of milestones- uh..." All of a sudden, all the screens went fuzzy. Sub rushed from monitor to monitor 1 at his control station, but he couldn't find the problem.

Then the screens turned black, with two white horizontal rectangles in the center. Kazo tried to make sense of it, but she couldn't figure out what it was. Most of the other recruits seemed to know though; the screams and cries of shock revealed that much.

Deadlox took the mic from Mitch. "Herobrine, what do you want?"

"Oh, nothing much," said a voice coming from the screens. "I've just come to reclaim something..."

Sky leaned into the mic and shouted, "You better not touch any of my recruits!" Cries of agreement came from the crowd.

The voice laughed. "Unfortunately, I might have to. You see, I am seeking a... visitor, who is hiding among your ranks. He or she does not belong with your kind, so you should really be grateful for my intervention."

Quentin took the mic. "We don't know who you're talking about, so tough luck. Get out of our city." Another defiant roar rose up.

It almost sounded as though the voice was growling now. "Luckily, I've solved that problem. In just a moment, I will cast a spell that will render the individual unconscious. It will last one hour and will leave them unharmed. Since you are all gathered anyway, you will know immediately who it is. You will then surrender the person to me in a week's time."

"And if we don't?" Jerome shouted.

"Then I will declare war, and you will either die or become my slaves." The voice paused. "Have a good night." The screens went black, and the city was quiet for a moment. That is, until Kazo collapsed.

In a dark alleyway elsewhere in Butter City, a wanderer slouched against the wall. She fell unconscious, sliding to the ground.

In neighboring Cube City, one person collapsed. And it was the mayor.

Back in Butter City, another person might have succumbed to the spell, had she not already been fast asleep in the back of her ice cream truck.

And finally, one related to Herobrine himself collapsed, just as she was about to pull off her greatest heist yet, all the way in Skyblock City.

These five all fell, all reacted to the spell. But of all of them, only Kazo was caught, and brought to Team Crafted for her fate to be decided.


	4. Party Time?

**His name is Cardboris. He will protect me from anyone who would annoy me.**

Kazo woke up exactly one hour later with a headache. She looked around and realized she must be in the hospital. In a private room, no less. But why- Oh. Now she remembered. That weird voice thingy... What did they call him? Herobrine. That's it. But what did she have to do with any of this?

She heard voices outside the door. It sounded like Sky and... Seto. They stopped talking, and Seto entered the room. "Hi, Kazo," he said, not unkindly. "I'd just like to ask you a few questions, and then you can ask me some, okay?"

"Alright."

"So, question number one: do you remember anything of your past?"

"No, I;m a spawn remember? I just popped up out of nowhere," Kazo answered confusedly.

"I don't think that's true actually. Herobrine must know something that you don't. For him to create a spell specifically targeting your dna type, either he has a sample of your DNA or you're not human." Seto moved on. "Question two: Where did you get that bracelet?"

"I had it when I spawned."

"I have never heard of someone spawning with a magical item, especially not one that powerful. The magical aura coming off both it and you is overwhelming. Question three: Have you encountered Herobrine at all during your time here?"

"No, I don't even know who the heck he is!" Kazo was quickly getting exasperated. "Can you at least tell me who he is?"

Seto sighed. "Long story short, Herobrine is the brother of Notch, our creator. He turned evil, so Notch punished him by making him ruler of the Nether, a dangerous and fiery place. But as soon as Notch ascended to the Aether, Herobrine escaped his prison and wreaked havoc throughout the Overworld. For three months he terrorized the Minecrafters, but then he disappeared. No one has seen him for decades, but all of a sudden he's back. And Notch isn't. So we've got a pretty big problem." Seto paused. "Now, my last question: are you sure you don't have any magical abilities?"

"Not as far as I know," answered Kazo helplessly.

"Well, do you have any questions?"

"What happens now?"

"Funny you should ask." Seto got up and opened the door into the room, and eight guys fell out into a dogpile on the floor.

Sky leapt up first and shouted, "Welcome to Team Crafted! BUTTER!" He started throwing butter all over the room; that is, until Quentin pulled himself up and tackled Sky.

"Well, technically you're a temporary member, you know, for your protection until this all blows over," Mitch confirmed. "But who knows? This could be permanent."

"HOW COOL IS THAT?!" Sky screamed, trying to pull himself up, without success.

Kazo turned back to Seto. "Legit? I'm actually part of the team?"

Seto smiled, a rare occurrence for him. "Yes."

She grinned and leapt out of the hospital bed. "Well, what do we do first?"

"Get everyone untangled, I suppose..." Seto said with a sigh.

An hour later (yes, it took that long) everyone was standing again, and TC showed Kazo what would be her room in the official team mansion. (Many of the members had alternate homes, but each had a room in the mansion as well.) It was huge, at least compared to her old apartment. It had it's own bathroom and game room, as well as warp pads to different parts of the city. As soon as Kazo finished gawking at the incredible setup, they left and played Hunger Games together until three A.M.

The next week passed in much the same way. They played non-stop minigames most of the time, and Kazo learned a lot about each of the leaders. For instance, Sky's sister ran Squid Army, and that was a touchy subject for everyone. And if Ssundee ever loses his sunglasses, well... you better run. Jerome and Mitch were as close as brothers, Jason was working with Yoglabs in nearby Skyblock City to build a moonbase for his recruits, and Deadlox had never taken off his headphones. Quentin hated pokeballs, and Ryan believed he was Batman. N one mentioned Herobrine, or the threat; no one cared that Kazo was bringing them all into danger; she was just one of the gang. And Kazo loved it.

Finally, it came time for the Team Crafted update meeting again. Kazo realized this was the deadline for handing her over, and she wondered what Sky could possibly have planned to save everyone. (She thought Sky at first because he seemed to be the leader, but then she saw him fall off a parkour course because he 'forgot how to jump' and changed that thought to, "the team.")

Half an hour before the meeting was supposed to start, Team Crafted headed down to the park to get the podium ready, along with the forcefield and mic equipment. When they got there, Sky greeted Sub, who, Kazo was surprised to see, had no face. "Is the equipment up and running?"

Sub nodded silently.

"What about the firewalls? Antiviruses?" Sub nodded again. Sky turned to Kazo and explained, "Sub is the best techie in the business. If he can't keep Herobrine out of this meeting, no one can."

Seto approached Sky. "The forcefield's in place, and the pros are arriving."

Kazo glanced at Sky quizzically. "Pros?"

Sky laughed. "Yeah, I took the liberty of inviting a few old friends tonight. Hey Brotato!" He waved to a man with a plaid shirt and thick-rimmed glasses. He waved back and came closer to the shield.

"Hey Sky, long time no see! I brought along Kyle, Jin and Okward. Figured you could use all the help you could get." Brotato shouted through the forcefield.

"Awesome, thanks!" Sky chuckled and turned back to the group, who were all looking at him strangely. "What?"

"Why didn't you tell us?" Bajan asked.

"I wanted it to be a surprise! Besides, we needed back up. And I haven't seen some of these guys in ages!" He waved at another passing friend.

"But... how many people did you invite, Sky?" Ryan asked slowly.

"Well, let's see... Antvenom, Aviator, Gizzy, Bodil, Jorge, Baki, Zek, Bashur, Lachlan, Vik, Kermit, James, Cib, Brice, Ross, Joey, Cody, Joe, Sketch, Slama, Mr. Meola, Kul3dud, Preston, Chris, Pedro, Seth, Jerry, Harry, Garrett, Tyson, Natalie, Ashley, Ghost, Dartron, and Jordan."

"Seriously Sky?" Bajan sighed and facepalmed. "We can't support a bunch of extra people right now!"

"Hey, Sparklez put his world tour on hold for this!" Sky was indignant.

Deadlox spoke up suddenly. "I think it's a good idea." Everyone turned to him. "We need extra fighters, good fighters, just in case this goes downhill. These people we can trust, and they've proven their skill time and time again."

"I agree," Seto replied. "Good idea, Sky."

"But if this comes to a siege..." Mitch seemed to be getting exasperated.

Seto glanced at him sternly. "Mitch, Sky is the commander. Unless the majority of the team votes against him, he's in charge. You have to respect his decisions." Mitch grumbled and turned away, but at least he stopped arguing.

"HEY, SKY!" A shout came from outside the forcefield. Everyone turned to see mlgHwnt, or Steve, pressing his face against the field. Behind him stood his friends Vince, Jeff, and Whitey, who seemed to have a bullet hole in his arm, but was walking around just fine.

"Oh... heh. Hey Steve." Sky looked embarrassed. "Who told you about this?"

"Garrett, he's like my little spy." Hwnt shrugged. "But you didn't invite me personally!" He frowned. "How come? I thought we were friends!"

"We are!" Sky assured him. " It's just that..."

"What?"

"Well... the last time you guys were here, you almost started a civil war with your 'zombie rights' movement."

"Zombies are humans too!" Vince shouted. He received several dirty looks from the gathering crowd.

"And the time before that, you dug up the streets looking for some ancient buried treasure.."

"Hey, the legend of Notch's toothbrush was totally legit!" Jeff protested. "We were just looking in the wrong place."

"And then there was the time you clogged the sewer system by shoving bread down a toilet-"

"I like bread." Everyone turned to look at Whitey, and he shrugged. "Bread is good."

Sky rolled his eyes and replied, "Just... try to stay out of trouble, please?"

Steve nodded eagerly. "Can do will do done." He set off through the crowd, leading his friends and shouting, "MAKE WAY FOR THE KING OF THE PANCAKES!"

Sky sighed and turned back to the others. "What? I didn't invite him!"

"Look, we'll talk about this later, it's time for the meeting," Quentin said quickly.

Sub passed Sky a mic and motioned for him to start. "Hello Butter City!" Sky shouted, but before he could continue, the mic squealed in protest, and once again Herobrine appeared on the screens. Sky turned to Sub, who shrugged and ran to his computers.

"Leave Herobrine! You're not welcome here!" Sky shouted. Kazo could see now why Sky was the commander. Even though he seemed like just an idiot most of the time, when someone challenged his people, he was suddenly fierce.

Herobrine laughed cruelly. "But don't you remember? You have something of mine, and I've come to collect." The eyes seemed to scan the crowd, then focused on the platform. "Ah, that must be it. Or should I say, her." Kazo shuddered, and, not for the first time that day, felt a pang of fear. "On with business then. Send her outside the city, and my Nether minions will take care of bringing her to me."

Sky tapped his chin. "Yeah, let me think... hmm, no."

Herobrine replied angrily. "No?! What do you mean, no?"

"I mean, she's one of us now. No way are we gonna give her to you so she can probably get tortured and die! She's done nothing wrong to us!"

"Yet. You'll see. You can't trust her. You know she has a potentially dangerous past, yet you're willing to defend her?"

"Yes." At this point Sky Army let out a great cheer, and once again Kazo was surprised. Not only did these people want to protect her, but even the recruits, most of which were probably confused and terrified, were willing to risk their lives to follow their leader wherever he chose.

Herobrine was silent for a moment as he waited for the crowd to settle down. "Fine," he growled. "You have chosen your lot. Prepare for death, foolish mortals!"

A recruit in the crowd looked up and screamed. Everyone else peered up as well, and saw what looked to be a starry night. But the 'stars' were getting closer.

Sky turned to Seto. "Seto, now!" Seto nodded and, concentrating, began to expand the forcefield spell he had cast around them. It grew like an enormous bubble, encompassing the recruits, the homes, and eventually, the entire outer wall. And there it stopped, surrounding the entire city, forming a protective barrier around and above.

For the most part Sky Army was quiet as they watched the meteors come nearer. A few sobs rang out, but there was a strange calm in the ranks. Sky actually had a grin on his face. He was totally confident in Seto's skill. Kazo had to wonder though; could he stand up to someone as powerful as Herobrine?"

Apparently he could. As the meteors impacted and exploded against the shield, it stood firm. Probably a hundred meteorites hit the barrier, but not one broke through. As the volley stopped, the recruits began to cheer. They went on for at least ten minutes. Sky certainly wasn't going to stop them; he was screaming louder than anyone. Now that the dome around the podium was down, he was throwing butter ingots at recruits and reaching down to give emphatic high-fives.

Mitch, Jerome and Ryan seemed shocked. They hadn't expected it to actually work. But the rest of the team was jubilant, it went just as planned! Even Seto had a grin on his face as his peers congratulated him.

Kazo gazed around at the scene unfolding before her. She smiled and cheered with the others, but the entire situation was insane! A person whom everyone thought a monster was hunting her down for an unknown reason, and had threatened to destroy these people, yet they were defending her for no reason at all, at risk of their own lives and freedom!

Sub handed Sky a mic he had managed to get back online, and Sky shouted to the armies, "Know what happens now?" There was relative silence for a moment. "We're officially under siege! It's time for a PARTY!" Another cheer rose up. Sky pointed to Sub. "Sub, strobe lights!" Sub hit a switch, and multicolored lights surrounding the stage and scattered throughout the park lit up. "Jason, MC!" Jason looked confused for a moment, but caught on quickly. He reached into the pocket of his space suit and pulled out a small cube. He threw it on the ground, and it expanded to a full-sized DJ stand. He then pulled out several music discs, and, choosing one, put it on. Music quickly filled the park, and recruits began to dance.

Sky laughed out loud and faced the team. "But Sky," Ryan started uneasily, "Shouldn't we be preparing for war?"

"Tomorrow." Sky turned suddenly grave. "Yes, tomorrow we'll get ready. But tonight... we're gonna have some fun!" He grinned again, and jumped down off the platform to mingle with the recruits.

Quentin and Ryan followed him, and Seto went in another direction, mumbling something about checking the shield. Mitch still looked worried, but Jerome dragged him off stage to a crowd of their own recruits, who squealed in delight. Kazo just gazed around, unsure of where to go. Deadlox walked up to her. "How're you doing?" He shouted; it was pretty loud all of a sudden,


End file.
